neon + gray

May Flaum had the awesome idea a few weeks ago to try neon paired up with gray on a layout, and I'm happy that she invited me along to play! You'll find another great project using this color combination over on her blog today, too!

Neon is one of those fads that I'm happy to play with in small amounts, but not really ready to buy lots of specific products for. Some trends like washi tape tend to stick around (no pun intended!) for a long time, but I think that neon definitely has a much shorter lifespan!

I've already shared one DIY neon project with you in my mist-making post a few weeks ago, and when May Flaum asked if I'd like to join her in some neon + gray project fun, I decided to pull out those same cheap neon paints and try a little watercoloring with them, too! And it turns out that plastic ice cube trays are much more suited for mixing watercolors than the tiny little plastic palette that I tried to use last time!

I was inspired by a piece of neon artwork that I first spotted on Pinterest (original source here), and I started things off by covering three sheets of plain cardstock (the cheap kind from the office supply store) with yellow, orange, and pink neon watercolors.

Making the circles was easy- I just ran the papers through my Big Kick using Lawn Fawn's Stackables Circles dies and had a variety of sizes in all of the colors in just a few minutes.

I played with the arrangement of the circles (adding in a few more cut from vellum scraps to add more neutral tones) on a gray chevron background for a few minutes until I was happy with the look, then added my photo, title, and some strips of washi across the top and bottom.

I don't have lots of pre-made neon embellishments on hand (just a few items from my Heidi Swapp design team days), but it was very easy to make a few pieces using the Hero Arts Neon Inks that I do have to color some mistable camera shapes. The pink neon washi was something that I actually picked up about 4+ years ago at Anthropologie when they had some small packs of MT tape on clearance. I don't think I'd actually used this roll yet!

Since the layout was starting to feel pretty 80's already, I threw in some wood veneer diamonds, circles,  and triangles to finish off the embellishment clusters. It doesn't get any more "Saved by the Bell" than that!

Many thanks to May for giving me the idea to try out the fab color combination of neon and gray. It's awesome to have scrappy friends to nudge you to try out a fad once or twice before it passes for good!

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project life 2013 | week 19 {citrus twist kits)

Another Monday, another Project Life layout, this time with the June kits from Citrus Twist!

Week 19 marked the first full week of May. It's usually blazing hot (my favorite temperature, by the way!) by this point in time here in Alabama, but the weather was still doing its wacky weirdness and we kept having alternating days of slightly warm and slightly cool (note the fleece jacket worn by D in the bottom left photo) temperatures. By the end of the week there was definitely a warming trend, on, though- thank goodness!

As usual, I was able to capture little bits of this and that- lots of everyday things that wouldn't normally make it into my scrapbook albums. Like the Burn Notice tweet by Jeffrey Donovan, a random carnival in the mall parking lot across from the grocery store as I was running errands, and Darren opting to sit outside Michaels and read a book on his phone while I popped in to pick up some paint. Okay, that last one might eventually get its own page. :)

I also learned that I will indeed add layers to a Project Life layout from time to time. I usually avoid them to keep the albums from getting too bulky- I already produce about two and a half albums worth of Project Life layouts per year and do not want to make it three. Or 5! Layering a few flat items, like some thin stickers and a piece or two of patterned paper here and there doesn't really add too much. My rule of thumb is that anything chipboard thickness or less is good to go in my album. Thicker than that and I save it for a regular layout.

I've realized that I've been a bit remiss in sharing the Project Life sketches here that I've been putting together for Citrus Twist! Time to play a little catch-up, so here are the sketches for my June Project Life layout:

And also May (layout here)...

and April (layout here).

Happy Monday, everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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geek girl | june 16, 2013

Hola and happy Sunday, everyone! Today I have an eclectic mix of geeky picks to share this week, with everything from the usual Star Wars and Doctor Who to some Back to the Future, a tech pick, and even a rare-these-days Firefly sighting!

Enjoy, and I hope you're all having great weekends!

From the top left:

• Harrison Ford stars as Han Solo starring as Bob Ross painting the Millennium Falcon in this hilarious photo found at Nerd Approved.
• Fast Company featured a story about the remnants of the Star Wars: A New Hope set in Tunisia.
• Learn to make your own TARDIS pull-string pinata at Instructables.
• Oh, Sugar! Events is the genius behind these awesome Back to the Future cookies.
• There's been precious little Firefly geekery to post lately, so of course I had to feature this shiny Serenity cake when it popped up over at Between the Pages.
• Star Wars and video games collide in this brilliant wedding posted at Rock 'n Roll Bride.
• Now you can wear tiny video game cartridges on your fingers with these rings from OhMyGeekness.
• These adorable miniature book cases found at Gizmodiva are unfortunately only available for the iPhone 4/4S. Here's hoping that an iPhone 5 version comes out soon!
• This tutorial at io9 will have you writing in Gallifreyan in 9 easy (or not so easy!) steps.

And, before I dash off for the day, here's a short little video clip of a very convincing Matt Smith lookalike cooking up a storm, Doctor Who style. Seriously, every kitchen needs a sonic screwdriver!


MTFBWY

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friday favorites | june 14, 2013

Whoops!

I had this post all ready to go this morning and forgot to hit publish. Good thing there are still 49 minutes left in this Friday in my corner of the world! Happy weekend, everyone!

From the top left:

• Simple Stories has an entire page of free printables available for download, including journaling cards to coordinate with several of their paper lines.
• In need of some artwork to spruce up your space? Poppytalk has a collection of free botanical prints that you can download!
• Find instructions for making your own paper files at Antilight.
• I just love how Ashli Oliver's creative brain works! Check out her fantastic two-page layout that actually has a Memory File mini album on one side!
• Kasia (a.k.a. Worqshop) shared three simple ideas for improving your layout designs at Chic Tags.
• Instructions for making these sweet DIY ombre treat bags can be found at The Sweetest Occasion. 
• Margareta Carlsson talks about her process for making double-page layouts (hint: she doesn't think of them as double page layouts!).
  
• A Subtle Revelry rounded up a collection of 25 lovely (and free!) fonts.
• I love Liz Tamanaha's idea of creating a 12x12 photo collage for one side of a weekly Project Life layout.

TTFN!

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we r memory keepers envelope punch board review {tools for stashbusting}

I know I'm not the only scrapper around who has at least a small stack of papers that will never make it onto layouts. Sheets that either came from paper stacks and weren't my favorite prints of the bunch, older papers that I bought before I knew what my style really was, and even a few papers that I ended up with many multiples of can be found here and there around my space. Sometimes I pass them on to others, but when I spotted the Envelope Punch Board by We R Memory Keepers at CHA Winter 2013, I knew that this tool would help me make the most of my under-used supplies!

Apparently lots of other scrappers and cardmakers had the same idea, because the first run of Envelope Punch Boards sold out almost immediately, and it looks like the second batch disappeared almost as quickly! Luckily I was able to score one from a recent shipment, and I thought I'd take it for a test drive and write a little review of my newest stashbusting tool.

We R Memory Keepers' Envelope Punch Board has a small footprint- less than half the size of my Martha Stewart scoring board- making it easy to store. It comes pre-printed with both complete directions for using the tool to make an envelope and a chart with paper sizes and score line placements for a variety of envelope sizes (a similar sticker with metric measurements is also included in the package). Note: Early shipments of the Punch Boards contained incorrect measurements in some cases. If you received one of those boards, you can download the correct size chart here and also write to We R Memory Keepers for a corrected chart sticker to place on you board.

I've already posted a video showing how this handy tool works- you'll find it on my post from the We R Memory Keepers booth at CHA- but I know that I don't always have time to sit and watch a video and sometimes a photo walkthrough is helpful, too. So if a video is more your speed, then click through the link above, or keep scrolling and reading here for step-by-step pictures.

The Paper Size guide on the Envelope Punch Board gives dimensions for trimming your paper based on the size of card you have. In my case I wanted to make an envelope for an A2 card and cut my paper to 8 1/8" x 8 1/8" as indicated.

The Score Line column on the measurement chart indicates where to line up the left side of the paper for the first score line, and for an A2 card the chart specifies a distance of 3 3/4".

After lining up the paper on the correct measurement, I used the scoring groove on the right side of the board to make the first score line. Note that the scoring tool fits into a nifty slot on the side of the board when not in use!

After scoring (or before, if that's your preference), press down on the punch button to cut a notch in the side of the paper.

With the first scoring line properly placed, the other three lines are easy! There's no need to use the board's ruler any more- just rotate the paper counter-clockwise, line the previously scored line up with the Score Guide on the board, punch, and score. Repeat for the remaining sides of the card until all sides are punched and scored.

The punch also rounds when used from the reverse side, so after scoring I used it to round off all the corners on my envelope.

And then it's just a matter of folding along the lines and adhering to create a perfect envelope!

You can use any type of adhesive you like to assemble your envelopes including ATG or a glue stick, but my absolute favorite is 1/8" Scor Tape. It's heavy-duty and oh-so-easy to apply precisely to the edges.

I did note one small problem as I was using the punch board- the A2 envelope size was just a bit too small for an A2 card when using the measurements on the board. The tool worked perfectly aside from this, but I think that there's still some tweaking that needs to be done to the measurement table for a few of the card sizes. Several users who comments on Craft Test Dummies' reviews of the board reported the same issue, and one commenter said that a paper size of 8x8 with a score line of 3 5/8" worked for her A2 cards. I normally make my envelopes a size or two larger than my card anyway since I tend to have pieces hanging off the edges of my cards, but it's something to keep in mind if you want your envelopes to have a snug fit.

A few clever crafters have found some other ingenious uses for this board including Kathy Orta's YouTube videos (here and here) showing how to use it to make mini file folders and a post at Mad Sky Designs showing how to use it to make tabbed Project Life cards. I love seeing people getting creative and finding new uses for their tools!

I've tried several different envelope tools in the past, and none is as easy to use or as straightforward (aside from the measurement table issues) as this one. If you're looking for a way to put some un-loved papers in your stash to use making custom envelopes, I definitely recommend picking one up!

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citrus twist kits june 2013 reveal

Reveal day is such a fun day for me! I love getting to post lots of layouts in one go, and the June kits were filled with so much delicious summer color!

Just a little note- the Citrus Twist web site is offline at the moment. Early last week their web host had server issues that resulted in the site and blog going down, and despite several efforts by the host company to restore it they haven't been able to bring it back up. Citrus Twist is hurrying behind the scenes to move to a new site as quickly as possible, and in the meantime they've gone ahead and unveiled a brand new blog!

Now, on with the layouts!

I'm starting with my absolute favorite page this month- I sat down and just did my happy layering thing and love the result. There's a mix of every single kit on this page- Main, Embellishment, Add-On, and Patterned Paper Add-On- along with a digital cut file from the Two Peas shop in their June exclusives, colored with some of my homemade mist.

The photo is of Darren at the Tennessee State Fair last year. Poor guy does not do well with crowds, loud noise, or flashing lights, and he still came along with my parents and I to spend the day at the fair! Like I said in last month's reveal, he's a keeper!

I started the next layout (Main kit only) not even intending to scrap a page. I'd just opened up my kits to look through everything while I had a few minutes, and I started playing with arrangements of the chipboard frames from Crate Paper's The Pier just for fun. One layer led to another, and pretty soon I found myself flipping through my photo storage album for pictures to match. It was a bit backwards from my usual layout process, but I like the result!

The photos are of the sunset (obviously) on our last night in Aruba. I'd originally printed them out at different sizes than the ones I used and reprinted them to fit into the frames. I also included six more 4x6 photos of the same sunset in a plain divided page protector on the page opposite this in my album (not shown).

My last layout today was also the last one that I made with the June kits. By this time all the different kits had well and truly been mixed together, and I really had my pick of items to choose a color palette from. In the end, it was the little orange flair button (Citrus Twist now has exclusive flair badges in the main kit!) that inspired the color scheme for this page.

The photos are some older ones- summer of 2010 at the lake for a day with Darren's parents while his brother's family was visiting from DC. I made a photo book with photos from the entire week shortly afterward, but I haven't scrapped much of it in my regular albums.

I also scrapped a Project Life layout with this month's kits, and I'll be sharing it next Monday on my usual Project Life posting day.

Here's a look at all of the new kits before I go, in both video and photo format. The main sold out early in pre-release, but as of posting the other kits and add-ons are still available!

"Boardwalk" Main Kit

June Project Life Kit "Sunshine Day"

June Embellishment Kit "Ferris Wheel"

June Kit Add-On "Charming"

June Pattern Paper Kit "Hello Summer

June 2013 Kit Video

Have a great day!

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Lawn Fawn June Inspiration Week | Quinn's Capitals

Lawn Fawn's June Inspiration Week continues on their blog today with a look at the new Quinn's Capitals stamp set! You guys already know how much I love Quinn's ABCs stamps and dies, and having a set of uppercase letters for the alphabet is a welcome addition to my stamp collection! And I think I heard something about a set of dies being planned for these eventually, but you didn't hear that from me!

The great thing about making your own alphas, whether stamped, die cut, or both, is that you can customize them to match any paper collection you choose! I used Lawn Fawn's Pink Lemonade collection for my layout and custom-colored and hand-cut my title after stamping with Quinn's Capitals.

Supplies:

There's something about hanging around with fellow design team members who use artsy mediums that makes me want to try it, too! Wilna at Two Peas has me eyeing Gelatos, and the Fawny girls who do such awesome coloring with alcohol markers made me want to try a little blending! I picked up a set of American Crafts Chromatix markers recently (before I remembered that I already have Bic Mark-Its, which also blend) and put the Cranberry set to work on my title. I did a little ombre shading, then cut my letters out and coated them with a thick layer of Glossy Accents to give them a little dimension and shine. Fun stuff, and I'll definitely be trying out my markers again soon!

The Lawn Fawn design team never ceases to inspire me with their creativity, and I encourage you to stop by the Lawn Fawn blog today to check out their projects and to enter the awesome stamp and die giveaways going on this week!

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